Someone who doesn't know me very well sent me a message yesterday on myspace and complimented me on my beautiful little girls and said I don't know how you do it with three girls. My response was something along the lines, of one day at a time, patience and lots of laughter. So... I thought I would share with some of you some of my laughter from last night. If you don't know Karly you may or may not find it as amusing, but those of you who know Karly, will get quite a laugh from this.
First I must explain a little about our night. I have told the big girls (Kins and Karly) that we would paint pumpkins this week, so last night was the night. We bought the Elmers Paint Brushes that have the paint in them, because I mistakenly thought they would be less mess. That joke was on me. So as Miss Kins and Karly Q sat in a sea of newspapers in the middle of the kitchen floor covered in paint, having a wonderful time painting their pumpkins, I busied myself trying to straighten up the rest of the kitchen and make dinner, chatting with the girls about their pumpkin designs. Juliana was playing on the living room floor.
All of the sudden, Karly very frantic says, Mom, Mom we need an evacuation. I thought, EVACUATION? What in the world, so I turn around and Juliana is army crawling towards the pumpkin mess with a very determined look. I could not help but laugh at a 5 year old who believes her baby sister needs to be evacuated from the kitchen, and of course couldn't help but wonder where she learned a word like evacuation.
As the evening progresses, the girls have finished their pumpkins, had a shower to clean up the paint mess and the newspaper paint disaster has found it's way to the trash can and in it's place are two proudly painted pumpkins drying on a piece of newspaper in the kitchen floor. While the girls are eating their supper, I begin getting Juliana's nebulizer ready for her breathing treatment and Karly, again frantic, says, "Mom, Mom we have a situation!" A situation? Intrigued I ask what, and she exclaims "Juliana is going to get the pumpkins". As I have my hands full, I say "ok, just a second", to which Karly replies matter of factly, "NO, mom, she crawls fast now!" I laughed as I dropped what I was doing and rushed to evacuate Juliana from the kitchen yet again much to Karly's relief.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Moms have to brag a little sometimes...
So I just had a few minutes, and I was sitting here looking at a picture of my three girls, and thinking how very blessed I am. God has given me three beautiful, amazing, intelligent little girls.
Miss Kins and I have been struggling a little this year with her homework, moreso the amount of it rather than the difficulty. I think it is a little extreme that she is in 2nd grade and some nights we have nearly two hours of homework to do. That being said, it is paying off. She has made great strides in her reading and math abilities. Last week she was in the top 5 math scores and a couple weeks ago she was in the top 5 reading scores in her class. We have also struggled in recent years with her growing attitude and mouthiness. This was never tolerated by my parents, and I don't intend to tolerate it either. It has been a struggle to say the least, but someone recently commented to me that they have seen big improvements with the girls, including Kinsley's ability to not argue when she's told something.
Karly Q started kindergarten this year, and for those of you that know her, know that she is way too smart for her own good, but she is a free spirit and one that is difficult to rein in. I am so pleased to report that we have not had any behavior issues at school with her. She does tell me that she DOES NOT LIKE school, actually she uses the word hate, which I am trying to teach her not to say. However, she very much enjoys practicing writing her letters, tracing them first with solid lines, then dotted lines and then attempting them on her own. She also has recently created her own activity in which I have written large numbers on paper and she uses pennies to create the numbers. She has a facination with money, and I'm trying to find creative ways to use that to my advantage. On the way back from the Zoo this weekend, Kinsley spouted off something though hilarious, not very nice to my mom, though I don't think she really intended for it to be as rude as it came out. As my mom and I were trying very hard to hold in our laughter, Karly very solemnly and seriously says, Kinsley that was not nice, you need to say you are sorry. I don't know which was funnier, but it was also a very proud moment for me in that Karly is learning how to speak politely and kindly to others.
Jules is growing up so very quickly. She army crawls all over the place, and much to my dismay ventures down the hall and to the big girls rooms. She has started pulling herself up to her knees and while enjoys sitting up, can't quite get herself into that position yet. She is eating solid foods and like most babies prefers the fruits, though she does not turn her nose up at vegetables like the older two did. She will rather quickly show you she does not like peas or green beans though. She had her first trip to the Zoo this past weekend, and as always loved just riding in the stroller and enjoying the nice weather. She didn't get too interested in the animals, other than the sea lions which she particular enjoyed. She did however grow quite attached to a stuffed penquin, stuffed monkey and stuffed leopard, the leopard came home with us.
Thank you for bearing with me as I count my blessings this morning and take a moment to talk about how proud I am of my three beautiful (inside and out) little girls.
Miss Kins and I have been struggling a little this year with her homework, moreso the amount of it rather than the difficulty. I think it is a little extreme that she is in 2nd grade and some nights we have nearly two hours of homework to do. That being said, it is paying off. She has made great strides in her reading and math abilities. Last week she was in the top 5 math scores and a couple weeks ago she was in the top 5 reading scores in her class. We have also struggled in recent years with her growing attitude and mouthiness. This was never tolerated by my parents, and I don't intend to tolerate it either. It has been a struggle to say the least, but someone recently commented to me that they have seen big improvements with the girls, including Kinsley's ability to not argue when she's told something.
Karly Q started kindergarten this year, and for those of you that know her, know that she is way too smart for her own good, but she is a free spirit and one that is difficult to rein in. I am so pleased to report that we have not had any behavior issues at school with her. She does tell me that she DOES NOT LIKE school, actually she uses the word hate, which I am trying to teach her not to say. However, she very much enjoys practicing writing her letters, tracing them first with solid lines, then dotted lines and then attempting them on her own. She also has recently created her own activity in which I have written large numbers on paper and she uses pennies to create the numbers. She has a facination with money, and I'm trying to find creative ways to use that to my advantage. On the way back from the Zoo this weekend, Kinsley spouted off something though hilarious, not very nice to my mom, though I don't think she really intended for it to be as rude as it came out. As my mom and I were trying very hard to hold in our laughter, Karly very solemnly and seriously says, Kinsley that was not nice, you need to say you are sorry. I don't know which was funnier, but it was also a very proud moment for me in that Karly is learning how to speak politely and kindly to others.
Jules is growing up so very quickly. She army crawls all over the place, and much to my dismay ventures down the hall and to the big girls rooms. She has started pulling herself up to her knees and while enjoys sitting up, can't quite get herself into that position yet. She is eating solid foods and like most babies prefers the fruits, though she does not turn her nose up at vegetables like the older two did. She will rather quickly show you she does not like peas or green beans though. She had her first trip to the Zoo this past weekend, and as always loved just riding in the stroller and enjoying the nice weather. She didn't get too interested in the animals, other than the sea lions which she particular enjoyed. She did however grow quite attached to a stuffed penquin, stuffed monkey and stuffed leopard, the leopard came home with us.
Thank you for bearing with me as I count my blessings this morning and take a moment to talk about how proud I am of my three beautiful (inside and out) little girls.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
I accept that I cannot do it all.
All of my life I have been a do'er. I have never been one to ask for help and I am reluctant to accept it when offered, I have wanted to do it all and on my own. I have always viewed it as a sign of failure on my part if someone has to help me or if everything in my life is not just so. I have always wanted to be the woman who does it all, has a great career, has children that are well mannered and always neat and well dressed, has a spouse that is satisfied in every way, whose house is always clean and smells like delicious homecooked meals, and above all to be able to do all of this with a smile on my face. I have set about to accomplish this goal time and time again with the thought that there are women that can do this, it is expected of me, I can do it as well. Nothing has ever broken my heart so much as to have it pointed out to me that while I have been busy trying to tend to all these areas that I missed one, that while I was busy mothering my children, my laundry had not been folded, or while I was trying to satisfy my husband, my sink was full of dishes, or while my house was spotless, I was still in my t shirt and sweatpants and my makeup was still smeared from the night before, or while my children were neat and pressed and acting like angels my husband had strayed. Sometimes I tried to accomplish these goals on only a few hours of sleep, and found myself snapping at the 20th "mom" instead of tenderly saying, yes baby. I tried to be everything to everyone around me and everyone that I loved, leaving nothing for myself.
I realize now, I cannot do it all. I am a single mother of three beautiful, intelligent, amazing little girls. There are nights that I crash into bed at 10 o'clock and my to do list is barely half done. I have laundry that while clean, has yet to be folded, and my bed has not been made since Sunday, and only because I washed my sheets and had to put them back on the bed. My floor has been swept, but I can't remember when I last mopped it, and it really needs it. I have no time to date or make sure that a man feels wanted in my life. And sometimes when my daughter wakes up during the night, I cry because I am so exhausted and it would be nice to have someone there to help me. The difference now though, is that I accept this, and I accept that I cannot do it all, really no one can, at least not anyone I know. It's ok that while Karly's hair is combed everyday, it rarely looks "in place" because she has curls and she is 5 and too busy having fun to be bothered with pulling it back or taming it down. It is ok that Kinsley's room is a mess, because we spend more time on her homework than we do her home work, and it shows in her reading and math scores. And it is ok that while I remembered to put the trash can out this morning for pick up, I didn't quite get the trash in the kitchen and the bathroom out to the trash can first, it's alright, I can do it tonight. Now this is not to say I have become a slob who doesn't care. I still make sure my children have a home cooked meal to eat every night, there homework is done, clean clothes picked out for the next day and a bath before bed and I make sure the dishes from that day are put away and the counters wiped off. Then I go to bed, where most of the time I enjoy stretching out across my empty bed and knowing that I did what I needed to do to have happy healthy children, and I did it by myself. But sometimes I do miss the feel of a warm body against mine on a crisp fall night.
I encountered this blog today and found it very nice to know that I'm not the only woman that struggles with the need to do it all and disappointment when I feel like I have failed in that attempt. And it's a nice reminder that there are things that really matter and things that don't. A happy healthy family does. And I have three happy, healthy, intelligent, beautiful little girls who know they are loved.
http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/
I realize now, I cannot do it all. I am a single mother of three beautiful, intelligent, amazing little girls. There are nights that I crash into bed at 10 o'clock and my to do list is barely half done. I have laundry that while clean, has yet to be folded, and my bed has not been made since Sunday, and only because I washed my sheets and had to put them back on the bed. My floor has been swept, but I can't remember when I last mopped it, and it really needs it. I have no time to date or make sure that a man feels wanted in my life. And sometimes when my daughter wakes up during the night, I cry because I am so exhausted and it would be nice to have someone there to help me. The difference now though, is that I accept this, and I accept that I cannot do it all, really no one can, at least not anyone I know. It's ok that while Karly's hair is combed everyday, it rarely looks "in place" because she has curls and she is 5 and too busy having fun to be bothered with pulling it back or taming it down. It is ok that Kinsley's room is a mess, because we spend more time on her homework than we do her home work, and it shows in her reading and math scores. And it is ok that while I remembered to put the trash can out this morning for pick up, I didn't quite get the trash in the kitchen and the bathroom out to the trash can first, it's alright, I can do it tonight. Now this is not to say I have become a slob who doesn't care. I still make sure my children have a home cooked meal to eat every night, there homework is done, clean clothes picked out for the next day and a bath before bed and I make sure the dishes from that day are put away and the counters wiped off. Then I go to bed, where most of the time I enjoy stretching out across my empty bed and knowing that I did what I needed to do to have happy healthy children, and I did it by myself. But sometimes I do miss the feel of a warm body against mine on a crisp fall night.
I encountered this blog today and found it very nice to know that I'm not the only woman that struggles with the need to do it all and disappointment when I feel like I have failed in that attempt. And it's a nice reminder that there are things that really matter and things that don't. A happy healthy family does. And I have three happy, healthy, intelligent, beautiful little girls who know they are loved.
http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/
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